DEBKAfile Exclusive: President Donald Trump has ordered additional F-35 stealth planes supplied forthwith to Israel, in response to the four S-300 air defense batteries Russia has sent Syria and its upgrade of electronic warfare measures. The decision was taken, our sources reveal, after consultations between Washington and Jerusalem at the highest administration and military levels on the enhanced threat the recent Russian steps presented to Israeli air operations against Iranian targets in Syria. The F-35s will be drawn from US Air Force’s active service squadrons, just as the S-300s for Syria came from Russia’s operational air defense missile stocks.

In addition to informing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of the president’s decision, Washington also notified the two Gulf crown princes, Muhammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and Muhammad Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, that the first US F-35 squadron in this region will be posted shortly at the Al Dhafra Air base 32km south of Abu Dhabi.

DEBKAfile’s military sources take this massive transfer of advanced American stealth planes to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf to betoken US and Israel’s determination to maintain Israeli Air Force’s operations over Syria, notwithstanding the presence of the S-300s and boosted Russian-Syrian air defense capabilities.It was this determination that prompted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin to comment on Thursday, Oct. 4, that he hoped “Tel Aviv will exercise good judgment in the region despite Israel’s insistence on not abandoning operations in Syria and Russia’s S-300 supply to Syria.” He was in fact conveying a warning to Israel not to attack the Russian S-300 batteries.

Syria’s S-300s are being integrated in Russia’s national nuclear C3 command and control system

Israel military officers have wisely stopped boasting that their air force can easily handle the S-300s, having realized that the version of this anti-air system tested in Israeli war games in Greece and other places is more or less obsolete. It has been replaced by a far more sophisticated S-300 which is the version shipped to Syria in the last two weeks.

Moscow has therefore substantially raised the stakes of the military contest between Russia and the United States in Syria to a much higher level. Putin has chosen this arena to directly test Russia’s air defense capabilities against the US Air Force’s F-22 stealth plane and Israel’s US-made F-35 “Adir” super plane, to find out which comes out best.

The Krasukha-4 is highly advanced, although not the most sophisticated EW system in the Russian arsenal. The system can jam communications systems, disable guided missiles and aircraft, and neutralize Low-Earth Orbit spy satellites and radars (AWACS) at ranges of 150-300km, which cover northern and central Israel. The Krasukha-4 can also damage opposing EW.

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You would expect the Israelis to have their nose to the ground on this as Syria could become a serious conduit for Iranian (proxy) attacks. However it's now apparent why Russia cares enough to shed blood and treasure over Syria too and it's not just about displaced caucasus terrorists, it's now part of the global Russian defense system.

If F-35s can prosecute missions without being harmed then Russian SAM claimed prowess will already take a knock. They basically have to get through every time without being intercepted/detected although the EW blanket has just made their job harder. Seems like the F-35 has entered service just in time to protect Western allies. I am sure it played no small part in getting the North Koreans to behave too.

The Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation, Tzachi Hanegbi said on the army radio that Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, which Moscow supplied to Damascus, will not be able to detect F-35 fighters, reports Haaretz.

“You know, we have stealth-fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries (S-300) are not even able to detect them,“ he said. As the newspaper notes, the first F-35 arrived in Israel in 2017.

The Israeli Minister for Regional Cooperation, Tzachi Hanegbi said on the army radio that Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems, which Moscow supplied to Damascus, will not be able to detect F-35 fighters, reports Haaretz.

“You know, we have stealth-fighters, the best planes in the world. These batteries (S-300) are not even able to detect them,“ he said. As the newspaper notes, the first F-35 arrived in Israel in 2017.

Bold claims here. All it's going to take is one F-35 downed or damaged and the headlines will scream it's over for the F-35. Of course, that's not reality but perception being what it is. This guy could easily eat his words.. I know I wouldn't be crowing like this. Then again if Israel wipes the floor with those S-300 batteries..